But on Plymouth's estates, social deprivation was rife and crime was dramatically on the rise.

Incredible pictures from the Mirror archives, taken in 1988, show innocent children playing in both Devonport and North Prospect, at a time when crime levels were reaching tipping point.

The estates were often the target for bored youngsters setting fire to cars and bins and the areas were both vastly poverty stricken.

Before the millennium regeneration, more than 75 per cent of homes in Devonport were social housing. The buildings, mostly flats, were constructed after the Second World War, when bombs destroyed much of what was already there.

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And during the 1980s, North Prospect was in steady decline and was hounded by undesirable tenants who plagued the area with drink and drugs.

Two years before these pictures were taken, the Wordsworth Road Riots saw windows broken, cars smashed and houses stoned.

Anarchist Magazine, Insurrection, printed in May 1988, wrote that the event "shook Plymouth".

And on the North Prospect History Project website it says Forbes Watson’s report on the riot led to the creation of the North Prospect Management Group, set up to address the issues there and stamp out antisocial behaviour.

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In 2009, the council transferred the properties to Plymouth Community Homes (PCH), which had been making headway on its 10-year redevelopment vision.

However, in 2015 residents were left in limbo when the major rebuilding project was placed on hold over funding uncertaincies.

General views of the estate show boarded up windows on houses (Image: Mirrorpix)

Part of the climbing frame has been set fire to

That work is now about to start.

When complete, the North Prospect development will see at least 800 homes demolished but up to 1,200 new new homes built and 300 homes refurbished to meet a higher standard, with 57 per cent deemed ‘affordable homes’.

As well as the new homes being built, there will be environmental improvements to the area, including strengthening the wall along Wolseley Road and enhancements to the green space at Cookworthy Green.

Devonport in 1988

From the physical fabric of the neighbourhood to the communities it houses, Devonport has undergone a period of transformation.

By the turn of the century, the council had begun moving tenants out of their homes with plans to transform the area, which was one of the poorest in the South West and improve residents’ standard of living.

Pembroke Street in 1988 when car crime was a major problem (Image: Mirrorpix)

At the time, Devonport was the only place in Plymouth to benefit from central Government regeneration funding through the New Deal for Communities (NDC) programme.

When the 21st century arrived urban analyses were carried out across Devonport, including Ker Street. There, feasibility studies concluded it would be neither economically nor socially viable to refurbish and maintain the flats as they were.

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During the millennium decade numerous streets were demolished entirely and rebuilt with both houses and flats, the houses providing something previously lacking in Devonport – gardens.

As these pictures show, at that time Devonport was predominantly flats. It was simply how people lived - on top of each other.

The housing aim during that period was to convert the 75 per cent of social housing into 75 per cent privately owned houses.

Two girls walk along a wall on the Clowance estate (Image: Mirrorpix)

Vehicles were frequently blown up – often very close to occupied properties (Image: Mirrorpix)

The ambitious scheme was finished in 2013, but just around the corner and in its final stages is the £70 million redevelopment of Plymouth’s former Royal Navy South Yard.

Some former residents have moved out indefinitely, not wanting to uproot their families for a second time – but others have moved back, witnessing first-hand the drastic changes Devonport has gone through.

Council estates in 1988

It is unclear why these set of photographs were taken by a photojournalist at the time, but it could relate to the Housing Act 1988 when council housing was transferred to not-for-profit housing associations.

In the UK, 1.3million properties were transferred between 1998 2008.

There was no special legislation, but Chiltern District Council was the first local authority to take up stock transfer. 4,650 homes were transferred.

This was to to reverse the decline in rented housing and improve its quality, to give council tenants the right to transfer to other landlords if they chose to do so, to target money more accurately on the most acute problems, and to continue to encourage the growth of home ownership.

Poor quality social housing was often synonymous with anti-social behaviour.

When the Conservatives came to power in 1979, there were no neighbourhood watch schemes. In 1982, the first such scheme was started, and in 1988 there were some 50,000.

By the turn of the century in Plymouth, improving living conditions in social housing was top of the agenda and the transformation of Devonport and North Prospect is the result of that.